Succulents and More™

Last week, I had the opportunity to revisit a very special succulent garden in Sacramento, created and loved by Fred and Paul. Almost a year and half had gone by since my first visit , and I was eager to see their garden again. My friend Michele was my companion on this outing. Fred and Paul live in a mid-century modern house built in 1959. When they bought it almost 15 years ago, there was lawn everywhere: in the front, along the side, and in the back. Here’s what it looked like in 2011: Google Street View photo from 2011 The landscaping in the front is fairly minimalistic, dominated by concrete paths, steps, and planters with straight lines and right angles. The design reminded me of Palm Springs – and that was before I found out that Fred and Paul used to own a house in Palm Springs! Notice the tall multi-branched Euphorbia ammak with its startling yellow coloration above? It’s the signature plant of Fred and Paul’s garden. You’ll see more of it in the back. Variegated Euphorbia a...

Weeds are a fact of life for a gardener. I try to stay on top of things, but I’m not obsessive-compulsive about weeding. However, there’s one weed that drives me bonkers: spotted spurge ( Euphorbia maculata ). It’s an annual that goes away in the fall and doesn’t come back until late spring. But when it does, it’s seemingly overnight — and it’s everywhere: Spotted spurge ( Euphorbia maculata ) It loves to grow out from under things so it’s hard to get to the center of it It also loves to grow in the middle of desirable plants... ... like this Dymondia margaritae Spotted spurge’s specialty is to pop up in particularly inconvenient spots: Who wants to reach into this dyckia clump and try to pull out the spurge? Or this silver cholla ( Cylindropuntia echinocarpa )? I like it, but I try not to get too close to it Spotted spurge is part of the massive euphorbia family. The Euphorbiaceae is the fifth largest flowering-plant family and includes members as diverse as the rubber tree ( Hevea b...